Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Germany and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in .
I was there at the first Suicide show in New York.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Leonard Cohen to the punk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Gichy Dan. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Sherman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pierre Henry record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Invisible record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Groovy Waters,
John Cale,
Blake Baxter,
UT,
Severed Heads,
Banda Bassotti,
Gang Green,
Rhythm & Sound,
Carl Craig,
Reuben Wilson,
Mark Hollis,
Siglo XX,
The Doors,
OOIOO,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Names,
Grandmaster Flash,
David Bowie,
The Sonics,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Subhumans,
The Invisible,
The Birthday Party,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Kerri Chandler,
The Leaves,
Heaven 17,
The Knickerbockers,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Infiniti,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Glenn Branca,
The Cure,
Shoche,
Stiv Bators,
These Immortal Souls,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Minor Threat,
Gang Gang Dance,
Lakeside,
Little Man,
Pantaleimon,
Johnny Clarke,
Joyce Sims,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Lalann,
Isaac Hayes,
Monks,
Rod Modell,
X-Ray Spex,
Pylon,
the Soft Cell,
Albert Ayler,
Idris Muhammad,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Index,
Patti Smith,
D'Angelo,
Darondo,
Chrome,
Pussy Galore,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Joe Finger, Joe Finger, Joe Finger, Joe Finger.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.